KNICKS REBOUND, BOUNCE PACERS TO EVEN THE SERIES

Skip Myslenski, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

This was, in the headlines, more than just basketball now. It was instead a hybrid, a mix of high drama and low farce, a roiling-and-boiling bit of theater filled with as much angst and anguish, as many characters and plots as could be found on the stages of nearby Broadway.

Reggie Miller had caused this tranformation back on Sunday with his shooting and his sassy mouth, and now none knew just what might unfold when his Pacers and the Knicks met Tuesday night in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals. Would the Knicks, "choke artists" to Miller, heroes at Madison Square Garden, slap down the brash intruder literally, or figuratively, or both? Or would Miller, now a baby-faced villain in this city, step into this bulls' eye of his own creation, and emerge with the right to yap yet again?

"I think it's the greatest thing in the world. We'll find out a lot about ourselves," Larry Brown, the Pacer coach, said of this situation before the game. "We'll see who responds."

It was, in the hours that followed, the Knicks who responded, and through them they not only earned a 96-77 win that evened this series at a game apiece. They also humbled, humiliated and unnerved the Pacers, and like those old kings throughout all of literature, got themselves a fair measure of retribution.

They held Miller to a mere three field goals on 10 attempts, two second-half points and 10 points for the night. John Starks, who scored 19, was his nemesis, shadowing him, harassing him, never resorting to the chippiness or the cheap shots that have characterized him in the past.

"He took a challenge," Brown would say later, "and I think did a great job on him. Then I don't think Reggie came out in the third quarter even looking at the goal. But if you're going to make statements like that and put pressure on your team, you've got to look at the goal."

Said Miller: "I wasn't as aggressive as I usually am. He (Starks) played great."

They held Rik Smits, who had burned them for 34 on Sunday, to only seven shots and 10 points. Patrick Ewing, who had managed but 11 on Sunday, was rejuvenated, bounding about on his old-and-aching legs on his way to 15 points.

"The adjustments we made on Rik," said Knicks coach Pat Riley "were very simple. . . . Patrick played incredibly well. He played as well as he has in awhile."

They held the Pacers, who had scored 107 points on Sunday, to a mere 27 in Tuesday's second half, tying the playoff record low. They pushed the Pacers, who had only 14 turnovers on Sunday, to an astounding 35, one shy of the playoff record high. And, in the first eight minutes of the second half, they just spanked the Pacers.

"They were very committed in the third quarter to make a statement, and they did," Riley said. The Knicks forced the Pacers into 12 turnovers on their first 15 possessions, held them to 2-of-5 shooting from the field, and outscored them 25-4 over those eight minutes.

It was in these minutes that Miller disappeared, that Starks and Derek Harper (24 points) drove the Knicks, that this one was fully settled. "This," Brown said, "was a monster game because of what was said in the paper. But I wasn't concerned about it in terms of the score. I was concerned in terms of competitiveness. And there we failed miserably."

"I think," said Riley, "it (Miller's) was a rather loud voice. But the only voice that counts is ours. The one inside us."